Transmission controlling device



June 16,1936. Q R mmgag TRANSMISS ION CONTROLLING DEVICE Filed March 29, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l 2? M5, $0 O INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

e 16, 1936. Q BURT I 2fi4434$3 TRANSMISSION CONTROLLING DEVICE Filed March 29,

935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY.

Patented June E6, 1936 TRANSMISSION CONTRDG DIEVHCE Leo 0. hurt, lllearbom, Mich. Application March 29, 1935, Serial No.'13,692

10 Claims. (oi. ii-346) The object of my invention is to provide a transmission controlling device especially adapted for effecting the several speed ratios obtainable with the conventional automobile sliding gear type transmission. Heretofore, such transmissions were usually provided with a gear shift lever which extended from the transmission upwardly into the driving compartment of the car. While such shift lever wasquite satisfactory in the past, still, many conditions encountered in recent automobile designs have made the use of such device less desirable than formerly. For example, the front seats of recent designs of cars are now being widened to accommodate three persons so that the conventional gear shift lever has interfered with the foot room of the center passenger. For this reason, it is desirable to remove the shift lever from the floor of the car and to place the control handle closer to the driver and in position where it does not interfere with the foot room of any of the occupants. Further, certain new designs of automobiles have the engine and transmission located at the rear of the car and in such installations it is essential that the driver be able to conveniently shift the transmission. The applicants device is particularly adapted for rear engined installations, inasmuch .as it is relatively unimportant at what position the transmission is locatedv relative to the controlling mechanism.

Still a furtherobject of my invention is to pro= vide a controlling mechanism for transmissions wherein a fluid medium is employed to transmit the shifting force from the controlling lever to the transmission gears and wherein mechanical means is employed for selecting the particular transmission gear which is actuated by this fluid medium. By this combination of mechanical and fluid operating means, the major inherent defects in both the mechanical and fluid systems heretofore employed are believed eliminated. I

Still a further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character described which will be relatively inexpensive to manufacture and which will require no major alterations to adapt same to the conventional sliding gear type transmission. have shown both a hand operated device where= in the power required to shift the gears is transmitted from the control lever directly to the transmission, and also a prevselecting device wherein the control lever only selects the gear to be shifted, the power required to shift being supplied by the clutch pedal operation.

With these and other objects in View, my invention consists in the arrangement, construc tion and combination of the various parts of my improved device, as described in the specification, claimed in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

In the accompanying specification I Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the position of either of my control units and its con nection with a conventionally placed transmission. The manual control unit is shown in this view. I

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view,'taken through. the control unit, shown in Figure l.

Figure 3 is a sectional view, taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a sectional view, taken on thellne 15-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a sectional view, taken on the line 5-4: of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a side view of the transmission cover, shown in Figure 4.

Figure 7 is a, sectional view, taken on the line 7-? of Figure 4.

Figure 8 is a vertical sectional view taken through a fluid replenishing valve which is provided to automatically maintain the correct amount of fluid in the system. I

Figure 9 shows a side elevation of my pro-selector mechanism which may be used in place of the manual operating device, shown in the foregoing views.

Figure 10 is a horizontal sectional view, taken through the pre-selector shown in Figure 9.

Figure 11 is a sectional view, taken on the e HH of Figure 9.

Figure 12 is a sectional View, taken on the line fl2l2 of Figure 9.

Figure 13 is a sectional view, taken on the line iii-i3 of Figure 9, and

Figure 14 is a diagrammatic view showing the several positions of the selector handle for efiecting the various speeds in the transmission.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, l have used the reference numeral it to indicate a housing member which is adapted to be secured in a fixed position beneath the cowl of the vehicle. The housing iii is preferably formed as a casting having a rectangular shape with a central longitudinal bore therethrough in which a control rod ii is both rotatably and reciprocally mounted. The housing it is mounted in a horizontal position in the vehicle so that the rod ll may be moved fore and aft therethrough and may also be rotated therein. The rearmost end of the rod ll extends rearwardly of the instrument board and is curved upwardly, the upper end of the rod having a control ball i2 secured thereto. For normal operation, the ball 92 is rocked laterally to select the particular transmison the conventional shifter lever for the various peeds efiected thereby.

tion then the other of the shafts maybe recipro- It will be noted from Figure 2 that the rod i l projects from the forward end of the housing ill and that the projecting portion of this rod is provided with a keyway i3 therein. An arm M is mounted in a slot formed in the forward end of the housing it. The rod ii extends through a central opening in this arm, and a key extends from the min into the keyway it. Thus, oscillation of the rod i 8 causes the arm it to oscillate, while reciprocation of the rod i 8 causes no change the position of this arm. A bracket l5 extends downwardly from the housing member it and a Bowden wire casing it is fixed to this bracket. A flexible wire 5'? is reciprocally mounted within the casing it, one end of which is secured to a clevis ill and which clevis secured to the free end of the arm id. Oscillation of the rod 1 2 thereby reciprocates the wire it through the easing order to adapt this device to the conven tiomal sliclhig gear transmission, a specialtransmission cover is required, this cover being designated by numeral 69 inthe drawings, and being adapted to be secured over the top portion of the transmission in the, conventional manner. This cover is provided with a longitudinal bore 23 therethrough in which a piston 25 is reciprocally mounted. it will be noted that each end of the bore ill is provided with a plug 22 and that conventional leather or rubber cup washers 23 are provided on each end of the piston 2|. This piston 2i is of sumcient length that chambers are formed between each end of the piston and the plugs 22. Means will subsequently be described to bring out the manner in which the piston 2! is reciprocated; however, the mechanism whereby the piston 2| is selectively connected to the respective shifter shafts inthe transmission will now be disclosed.

The conventional sliding gear type transmission is provided with a pair of laterally spaced shafts 23 which are reciprocally mounted for longitudinal movement in the transmission. Shifter forks 25 are secured to the respective shafts 23, these forks coacting with annular grooves which are formed in the various gears to be shifted. These forks and shafts 24 are invariably provided in sliding gear transmissions. It is usual to so design the transmission that one of the shafts is.

moved forwardly and rearwardly from aneutral position to effect the low and reverse speeds of the transmission; while the other shaft is shifted forwardly and rearwardly from the neutral position to effect the second and direct drives in the transmission.

The piston 2| shifts forwardly and rearwardly from a neutral position and a beam 26 is secured to the intermediate portion of the piston 2| with the ends 'of thebeam disposed adjacent to the center portions of each shaft 24. Each 'of the shafts 24 is provided with atransverse slot 21 at its center portion, into which the beam 26 may extend when it is rocked. When one end of the beam fits in one of the slots 21, the other end of the beam will be entirely out of the other slot;

Thus, when the beam is rocked in one of its 611- gaged positions, reciprocation of the piston 2| will cause reciprocation of one shaft 24, and when the beam is oscillated to its other engaged posicated by the piston 2|. The conventional transmission is provided with interlocking mechanism so that both of the shafts 24 may not be simultaneously shifted; however, this mechanism is not described herein as it forms no part of my invention and as any of the several types of interlocking mechanisms may be employed herein. A pair of bleeder openings 16 are provided in the bore 23 at the end of the piston stroke so as to center the piston in the neutral position.

In order to selectively oscillate the beam 26, one edge of this beam is provided with cam slot 23 therein. A shaft 29 is rotatably mounted in the cover it, the outer end of this shaft having an arm secured thereon, while the inner end of the shaft is provided with an eccentric cam member 33 which fits into the slot 28 in the beam 26. Oscillation of the arm 30 actuates the eccentric cam St to raise and lower the adjacent end of the beam thus oscillating the beam and piston tlnough full range of movement. As has been mentioned, one end of the casing is secured to the bracket 85 while the otherend of this casing is secured to the transmimion housing adjacent to the arm 33. The transmission end of the wire ii is provided with a clevis 32 which is secured to the free end of the arm 39. Thus, oscillation of the rod i 5 causes the shaft 23 to oscillate, which oscillation causes the beam 26 to oscillate into contact with either one or the other of the shafts 2 Means will now be described whereby fore and aft reciprocation of the shifter ball i2 causes reciprocation of the piston ii. The housing member ill is provided with a bore 33 which extends from its rearmost end to position spaced slightly from the front end, while a second bore 3 5 extends from the front end of the member almost through the forward end of the housing. These two bores are spaced one on each side of the central rod 5|. A plunger 35 is reciprocally mounted in the bore 33, while a second plunger 36 is reciprocally mounted in the bore 3t. Arms 3'11 project laterally from the outer ends of these plungers, each of these arms having an opening therein through which the shaft l extends. The shaft l i adjacent to each of the arms 3i is provided with an annular groove 38 therein, into which suitable pins 39 extend. Thus, reciprocation of the shaft H in a forward direction moves the plunger 35 into the bore 33 and at the same time draws the plunger 36 out of the bore 34. Suitable cup washers 40 are provided on the inner end of each of the plungers 35 and 36 so that a fluid tight seal between the bores and plungers is obtained. It will be noted that tube 4| is con-- nected to the bottom end of the bore 34, while a tube 42 is in communication with the bottom end of the bore 33. These two tubes extend from the housing in to position adjacent to the transmission cover i9. The tube 42 is connected to the forward end of the cover I!) so as to be in communication with the space in front of piston 2 while the tube 4| is connected to the rearmost end of the transmission so as to be in communication with the space in the rear of the plunger 2|.

When the system is filled with a. noncompressible fluid, such as glycerine or oil, the forward movement of the shifter ball |2 will discharge fluid from the bore 33 through .the tube 42 and into the space in front of the piston 2|, thereby forcing the piston rearwardly and forcing the fluid which is at the rear of the piston 2| back through the tube 4| into the bore 34. In

- like manner a rearward movement of the shifter ball forces the fluid in-the bore 34 to the space in the rear of the plunger 2| thereby forcing the plunger forwardly and forcing the fluid ahead of this plunger back into the bore 33.

During the normal operation of such device there is usually some leakage; and it is to replenish the fluid caused by such leakage that Ihave provided a valve mechanism 43. This valve is provided with a chamber 55 which is connected with a fluid reservoir 44 and each of the tubes Al and 42 extend through the valve member 63 and each is connected to the chamber 45 by means of ball check valves d6. When leakage occurs in the pressure side of the system a slight vacuum is placed on the other side of the system, which vacuum causes one of the ball check valves as to open and supply suificient fluid from the reservoir 34 to equalize the vacuum.

The operation of the manual form of my device is as follows:

When the ball I2 is shifted laterally towards the left the wire H is drawn upwardly, which causes the slotted end of the beam 26 to raise thereby engaging the plunger 2! with the low and reverse shifter shaft 24%. The ball I2 is then moved rearwardly to engage the low speed gearing, which movement forces out the fluid in the bore 3 1 thereby moving the piston 2i forwardly.

It will be noted that the beam 26 moves forwardly with the piston 25 so as to be out of engagement with the cam 3i; however, at such time, the bottom edge of the beam adjacent to the slot 28 slides upon the full diameter of the second and direct speed shaft 2Q so thatthe beam 26 cannot be oscillated out of engagement with the slot in the low and reverse speed shifter shaft. Thus a return of the piston always causes the cam iii to enter the slot 28.

When it is desired to shift ,the device into either second or high speed, the ball l2 is returned to its neutral position and as the ball is moved laterally towards the right, the beam 26 is oscillated so that it engages the second and direct speed shifter shaft 2d. The aforementioned fore and aft movement of the shifter ball l2 thereby moves the second and direct speed shaft in a like manner to that just described.

The foregoing description related to the manual or direct actuating type of control. -Means will now be described which consists of a pre-selector type of control, .difiering from the aforementioned type only in that the vehicle clutch pedal movement is used to actually shift the gears innumeral 18 the body or housing of my pre-selector mechanism, which housing is secured on the under side of the cowl in a manner similar to the fastening of the body member m. The housing is provided with a pair of parallel bores 69 which extend likewise therein, the forward end of each of these bores being closed and a pair of pistons 5h being reciprocally mounted in the respective bores 39. Each of these pistons is provided with a cup washer 52 on its forward end so that reciprocation or" these pistons will force fluid in'and out of the bores 89. it will be noted from Figures and 13 that each or the pistons W has a rack 52 machined in one side thereof and that a pinion hllis rotatably mounted in an opening ll in the housing, which opening is disposed between the two pistons so that the pinion meshes with both racks 52. Thus, when one of the pistons 59 is pushed inwardly in its bore Q9, the other piston is positively forced outwardly in its bore at an equal speed so that the combined fluid capacity of piston chambers is at all times constant.

As has been mentioned, the power required to operate this device is obtained from the clutch. pedal which is shown in Figure 9 by reference numeral 54. This pedal has an arm 55 associated therewith which is connected to a rod 56, this rod extending upwardly through a sleeve 51. A compression spring 58 is disposed between the sleeve 51 and the upper end of the rod 56 so that adownward movement of the rod either compresses the spring 58 or moves the sleeve 51 downwardly. A bracket 59 extendsforwardly from the housing 48 to which bracket the intermediate portion of a bell crank lever 60 is pivot.- ally mounted. One arm of the lever Bil is pivotally secured to the sleeve 51 while the other arm extends upwardly so as to be substantially in line with the pistons 55. Thus, upon depression of the clutch pedal 54 the upper half of the bell crank lever 60 is urged forwardly from the housing 48. I

It will be noted that a pair of rods. iii are mounted to reciprocate through the housing 36 in directions parallel to the pistons 50. The forward ends of these rods iii are fixedly secured to a cross arm 62, while the center portion of this cross arm is pivotally secured to the bell crank lever 60. .The rearmost ends of the rods El are connected by a yoke 53 and a pair of compression springs 66 extend between the housing and this yoke and resiliently urge the yoke and rods 68 rearwardly at all times.

Referring to Figure 10 a shaft 65 is rotatably mounted in the rearward portion of the housing 68, and extends rearwardly through the yoke 63. This shaft is provided with a longitudinal keyway 68 therein. A selector member 57? is reciprocally mounted upon theshaft 66 between the body 48 and the yoke 65, which selector is keyed to the shaft so that rotationof the shaft likewise rotates the selector. A pair of ears 68 extend from opposite sides of the selector El which ears are arranged to coact with the outer ends of both pistons 50 upon the depression of the clutch pedal when the device is in the position shown in Figure 12. A finger 69 is formed integrally with the selector 81 and extends forwardly therefrom, this finger being located halfway between the ears fill. It has been mentioned that when the device is in the position shown by Figure 12 each ear will coact with the outer end of one of the pistons 59 so that these pistons will be exactly centered, as

shown in Figure 10. When the selector is rotated through a 90 angle from that shown in Figure. 12 then the finger 69 will bear against one of the pistons and neither car will coact with the pistons so that the piston which coacts with the finger 69 will be forced downwardly, the other piston being forced outwardly by pinion 53. Thus, movement of the selector in a clockwise direction through 90 from that shown in Figure 12 will align the finger with the left hand iston while movement through 90 counterclockwise will align the finger with the other piston.

Referring to Figure 11, it. will be noted that a pinion lid is fixed to the forward end of the shaft 66, which pinion meshes with a gear it which is rotatably mounted in a suitable bracket formed in the upper portion of the housing it. A two-toupwardly to position adjacent to the driver of the vehicle where an arm 13 is fixed thereto, while the lower end of the shaft '52 is fixed to a crank "i l, which crank i functions in a manner similar to the arm i l in the manually operated device. The flexible wire l! is secured to the free end or" this crank l l while a bracket 75 extends outwardly from the housing 58 and has the casing fixedly secured thereto.

The left hand piston in Figure 12 is connected to the tube 8i while the right hand piston is connected to the tube ii. Thus, when the left hand piston is moved inwardly by the selector finger the piston 2i will be moved forwardly to engage either the first or third speeds, and when the right hand piston 5c is moved inwardly the piston 2i will he moved rearwardly to engage either the reverse or second speeds.

The operation of the device is as follows:

The selector arm i3 is usually placed in either the first or reverse speed position, as shown in Figure is. When the lever is placed in either of these positions, thewire ii is extended to thereby cause the beam in the transmission to coact with the first and reverse speed transmission shaft If now the clutch pedal depressed the selector 6? will be-moved forwardly so that the finger 59 will move one or the other of the pistons 53, depending upon the position of the selector. If the first speed position is chosen, the arm l3 must be moved counterclockwise through 45 degrees, which moves the selector clockwise through degrees and thus aligns the finger 59 with the left hand piston 50 so that operation of the clutch pedal moves the piston 2 forwardly to engage the first speed ratio. A further counter-clockwise movement of the arm '33 through 90 degrees to the second speed position causes the selector 8? to-rotate clockwise through degrees and thus causes the finger 89 to be aligned with the right hand or reverse and second speed pistons 50. A movevment of the arm 73 to the third speed position causes the finger 69 to be aligned with the opposite or first and thirdspeed pistons 50. The selector 6? has only two engagement positions; that is, in one position it will operate either the first and third speeds whilev in the other position it will operate either the reverse or second speed. The position of the arm i i-controls which of the speeds are engaged. In the neutral position the ears 68 center both pistons 50 to thereby center the piston 2! in the transmission.

Among the many advantages arising from the use of my improved device, it may be well to mention that the fluid actuating portion of my device is comparatively simple and durable, being no more complicated than the conventional hydraulic brake system, while themechanical system employed for selecting which of the transmission shafts is to be actuated is likewise comparatively simple. The unique feature of this device is that the selecting is done through a relatively simple mechanical device, while the power is applied through a hydraulic medium. It is believed that this arrangement is far superior to either a wholly mechanical or hydraulic system.

Some changes may be made in the arrangement, construction and combination of the various parts of my improved device without departing from the spirit of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims such changes as may reasonably be included within the scope thereof.

acetates I claim as my invention: 1. A device adapted to actuate a sliding gear type transmission, said transmission having a pair of axially shiftable elements therein each of which elements efiects one of the transmission 7, gear'ratios when shifted to either end of its axial movement range comprising, an actuating member mounted for reciprocation in said transmission, 2. control member, fluid actuated means connecting said actuating member witzsaid control member so that reciprocation of said control member in one plane causes said. actuating memher to reciprocate, engaging means which operably connects said actuating member to either of said shiftable elements, and a mechanical connection between said control member and said engaging means whereby reciprocation of said control member in another plane engages said actuating member first with one of said shiftable elements and then with the other of said elements.

2. A. device adapted to actuate a sliding gear type transmission, said transmission having a pair of axially shiftable elements therein, each of which elements effects one of the transmission gear ratios when shifted to each end of its axial 25 movement range comprising, control lever, an actuating piston reciprocally mounted in said transmission, a plunger actuated by said control lever, a conduit connecting said piston and plunger whereby reciprocation of said lever in 30 one plane causes said piston to reciprocate, engaging means associated with said piston for connecting the piston to either of said transmission shiftable elements, and a mechanical connection between said control lever and said engaging 35 means whereby reciprocation of said lever in another plane causes said engaging means to connect said piston first with one of said shiftable elements and then with the other of said elements.

3. A device adapted to actuate a sliding gear type transmission, said transmission having a pair of axially shiftable shafts therein each of which effects one of the transmission gear ratios when shifted to each end of its operating range 4 comprising, a double ended piston reciprocally mounted in said transmission, a control lever mounted for universal movement in position adjacent to the driver of the vehicle, a plunger mounted adjacent tosaid control lever, a conduit 50 connecting said piston with said plunger whereby reciprocation of said control lever in one plane causes said piston to reciprocate in a direction parallel to the operating movement of said shafts,

a transverse beam mounted upon said piston, said 55 beam being capable of rocking movement around .the axis of said piston into locking engagement with one of said shafts at one end of its rocking stroke and with the other of said shafts at the other end of its stroke, and means for rocking 60 said beam for the above described purpose.

4. A device adapted to actuate a sliding-gear type transmission, said transmission having a pair of axially shiftable shafts therein, each of which shafts effects one of the transmission gear ratios 65 pair of'shiftable shafts in a sliding gear transrocation of said control lever in one plane causes said piston to reciprocate, atransverse beam secured to the intermediate portion of said piston, said beam being capable of rocking movement into locking engagement with said transmission shafts at the respective ends of its rocking stroke, and a mechanical connection between said control lever and said beam so that reciprocation of said lever in another plane causes said beam to connect said piston first with one of said shafts and then with the other of said shafts.

5. A device adapted to actuate a sliding gear type transmission, saidtransmission having a pair of shiftable shafts reciprocally mounted therein, each of which effects one of the transmission gear ratios when shifted to each end of its stroke comprising, a double ended piston reciprocally mounted in said transmission, a pair of plungers reciprocally mounted adjacent to the driver of the vehicle, conduits connecting each of said plungers with the respective ends of said piston, a selector associated with said plungers, which selector may be positioned so as to actuate either one or the other of said plungers, a connection between the vehicle clutch pedal and said selector whereby depression of the clutch pedal will actuate said selector and thus move said piston in either one or the other direction according'to the position of said selector, and manually controlled means operatively connecting for reciprocation said piston with either one or the other of said transmission shafts, whereby reciprocation of said piston will reciprocate one or the other of said shafts.

6. A device adapted to selectively reciprocate a pair of shiftable shafts in a sliding gear vehicle transmission comprising, a housing member having a control rod reciprocally and rotatably mounted therein, a pair of plungers mounted in suitable bores in said housing member and connected to said rod so that movement of said rod in one direction causes one plunger to advance into its bore while withdrawing the other plunger and movement of the rod in the other direction will draw the first of said'plungers out of its bore while advancing the second in its bore, a; double means extending between said piston and said control rod whereby oscillation of said control rod will oscillate said piston for the purpose described.

8. A device adapted to selectively reciprocate a pair of shiftable shafts in a sliding gear vehicle transmission comprising, a control rod rotatably and reciprocally mounted in the vehicle in position adjacent to the driver thereof, a piston rotatably and reciprocally mounted in said transmission, means associated with said piston whereby oscillation of the piston will connect for reciprocation said piston first with one of said shiftable shafts, then with the other of said shafts,

said piston whereby reciprocation of said control rod recipro'cates said piston to thereby reciprocate either one or the other of said shafts, and means extending between said control rod and said pismeans extending between said control rod and 15 ton whereby oscillation of said rod oscillates said 20 piston to thereby select the shaft which is to be reciprocated by said piston.

9. A device adapted to selectively reciprocate a pair of shiftable shafts in, a sliding gear trans- ,mission comprising, an actuating member recip 25 10; A device adapted to effect four speed ratios in a vehicle transmission, said transmission having a pair of shiftable members therein, each of which effects one of said gear ratios when moved to each'end of its shiftable stroke comprising, a

double ended piston adapted to reciprocate in position adjacent to said transmission, means for seended piston reciprocally mounted in position adlectively connecting said piston with either of said chanical connection between said piston and each of the shiftable shafts whereby said piston may be selectively connected .to either of these two shafts, and means actuated by an oscillating movement of said control shaft for selectively connecting said piston to each of said transmission shafts.

'7. A device adapted to selectively reciprocate a mission comprising, a housing member having a control rod rotatably and reciprocally mounted therein, a pair of plungers reciprocally mounted in said housing and connected to said control rod so that reciprocation thereof in one direction will cause one of the plungers to advance into said bore while the other of said plungers recedes from its bore, a piston associated with the transmission of said vehicle, the respective ends of said piston being connected by means of a fluid connection with the respective plungers in said housing, means associated with said piston whereby oscillation of the piston in one direction will mechanically connect said piston with one of said shiftable shafts and oscillation of said piston in the other direction will mechanically connect. the piston with the other of said shifter shafts, and

shiftable members so that reciprocation of said piston will move either one. or the other 'of said shiftable members through its full range, a housing having a pair; of plunger cylinders therein, a pair of plungers reciprocally mounted in said housing and mechanically connected together so that one of said plungers moves inwardly as the other of said plungers moves outwardly, fluid connections fixedly disposed between each of said cylinder bores and the respective ends of said piston, whereby inwafd movement of one of said plungers will move said piston in one direction and inward movement of the other of said plungers will move said piston in the opposite direction, outward movement of either inoperative plunger bein effected both by said mechanical connection and by the fluid expelled from the inoperative end of said piston, manually operated means for selectively actuating both of said plungers, and mechanically actuated selecting means disposed adjacent to the driver of the vehicle which is mechanically connected to said means for connecting the piston with either, of the shiftable members, whereby the driver may select which of said shiftable members is to be moved by said piston and then actuate! either of said plungers to move the LEO O. BURT. 

